Saving the Planet - baby step

The area where I live is called Brookeville, adjoining Olney. The housing communities are planned and well maintained with lot of walk paths. From spring all the way till late fall, it is not unusual to see a lot of residents running or walking. When I was not jogging, I walk a lot in my neighborhood, generally to stay fit. Despite being a well maintained neighborhood, it is not uncommon to see a little bit trash especially around common area that belong to no particular neighborhood and also in the wooded parts. It may seem rather a generalization, but I attribute most of this to a few thoughtless teenagers and some folks from other parts that commute on Georgia Avenue and Olney Laytonsville Road. I personally do not understand this, but I presume it is more of  "I do not live here, so it is acceptable to throw trash here" would seem to be the mentality. They probably subscribe to a form of NIMBY!

In the past, I would simply bemoan the fact, shake my head, and continue walking. More recently, I have felt the need to take some concrete action such as getting a group together to perform cleanups. Now I find it hard to convince anyone, if I tell them to zig, they tend to zag. In fact, I always say that if you want to convince someone to your point of view, send me to that person to argue to the opposing point of view! Maybe if I performed the task, my actions would be more convincing than my words. More over I felt I was not doing my share. So last week, I went to Home Depot and purchased a Trash Grabber. 

The weather earlier today was too nice and I carried the trash grabber along with a trash bag. I filled by bag with plastic and aluminum cans within a mile of my house and there is still a lot of trash to be picked up. As I walked and picked trash, I observed myself puffed with self-righteousness. I had to talk myself down a bit and put it in perspective; it was only one walk and one bag. At the other end, it was hard to stop myself from getting frustrated by the amount of trash, I could easily have packed ten bags. I felt my instincts to overdo needed to be curbed. I could not clean my neighborhood of trash in one walk. If there is still trash around it is not a failure. There is one bag less today than there was yesterday! It is continual process, more of a marathon than a sprint as most things in life are. This is only the beginning. 

I want to make this now part of my walks which now serve dual purposes; improve my health and the health of my neighborhood. Clean the neighborhood one walk, one bag at a time.

Raag Tax

Liberals want progressive taxes where the rich pay a larger part of their income and poorer people less part of their income since they have that much less to spare.

Conservatives and rich folks believe that the poor are slackers and want to live of the fat of the land. They would like a flat tax where everyone pays the same percent of their salary in taxes. Even better, why not tax based on consumption. Most economist consider this regressive, since consumption accounts for most of a lower income family while forming just a small fraction for the rich.

Middle class looks with envy at the rich and want them to pay more in taxes. They also look down at the poor and hate any entitlement programs that does not target the middle class such a tax write off for sneezing.




So here is my simple (or simplistic) taxation plan. It is progressive in the sense that the rich will pay a larger percentage of their salary than the poorer. The are only four variables or levers

Rmin - Minimum tax rate = 0% hence this is really not a variable.

Exemption Amount - for self and dependents.
Rmax - Maximum tax rate
Smin - Maximum salary at which taxation would still be 0%. This number is based on 1 exemption.
Sman - Minimum salary at which taxation rate would not longer increase. This number would be based on 1 exemption.

All income would be treated equally and no special benefits would be given for investments. In short, there is absolutely no other exception. This model can be extended to both State and City taxes.

Some examples for Federal Taxes.
Exemption  = $5,000.00
Rmax = 20%
Smin - 50,000.00
Smax = 250,000.00

A single person having an income of 50,000.00 or less would not pay any taxes.
A family of 4 having an income of 65,000.00 or less would not pay any taxes.
A single person having an income of 250,000.00 would pay 20% taxes.
A family of 4 having an income of 265,000.00 or more would pay 20% taxes.

What do you think of this idea? Naive? If so, why? Don't you think every economic policy, although well intentioned, has always created distortions and finally proven the truth of of Law of Unintended Consequences?

Tyranny Of Thyagaraja

I love Carnatic classical music. I took to it 20 years ago and there has been no turning back. During the early days I liked a few of the ragas like, Mohanam, Hamsadhvani, Kaanada, Kambodhi, and Kaapi. Later I learned to enjoy a whole host of other Ragams such as Shankarabharanam, Karaharapriya, Sriranjani, Khamas, and Panthu Varali to name just a few.

A large number of listeners predominantly derive pleasure from the peotry. Carnatic music is predominantly Kriti based, which means, the artist performs songs that are poems written and then set to music by the four Trinity of Carnatic Music (yes, I know what trinity means), Muthusvamy Dikshithar, Shyama Shastry, Purandara Dasa, and of course the saint Thyagaraja. Or else they choose lyrics from popular religious text. The most popular songs are almost always poems written in Telugu, Sanskrit, or Kannada. A lot of the songs are so well known that you see frequently audience requesting them by the first two words of the poem.

I am not a language bigot and I speak three quite fluently and two others that I could pick up with little effort. It is just that, these composers were deeply religious. Thyagaraja was famous for his Rama Bhakti, Shyama Shastri composed so many songs in praise of Devi. Dikshithar went on a pilgrimage around India writing peoms in praise of various deities all over the country. Purandara Dasa gave up a life of affluence to sing praise of the Lord. Since you all know my opinion on both God and religion; it would not come as a surprise when I say that these poems do not move me at all. I cannot go into ecstasy listening to how Thyagaraja chides Rama for not meeting him in the eye. Whatever dude!

And therein comes the title. I initially thought of titling this post "Tyranny of Kritis". My daughter is studying for AP Literature and from her I learned the meaning of alliteration. I immediately saw that I must change the title. I assure you I have nothing against Thyagaraja.

Coming back to my love for the music, thankfully I persevered and during this time, found myself developing a predilection for the the Alapana, Neraval, Svara Kalpana. These aspects of Carnatic Music, also known as, Manodharma, help the audience appreciate the creativeness of the artists and their ability to improvise or bring originality to a given set piece.

Cross Country Travel 1990 - Part III

I slept like a log after the 2nd day of my Cross Country Travel culminated in severe emotional trauma. I do not remember the particulars of the following morning. I do remember taking I-80 again, not that there was any other choice in the middle of Wyoming!

I remember the day being overcast for most of the stretch. Quickly I moved into the neighboring state of Nebraska. I am sure it is a beautiful state, but I regret I remember very little of the drive other than the undulating freeway, my loneliness, the large number of trucks on the road, farms, and constant odor of manure. My only excuse is, I was young and was not a great observer.

Somewhere on the way, I picked up another hitchhiker. His story was interesting, he had no car, he worked on a farm; not sure what exactly he did; his daughter lived with her family lived several miles north of Des Moines, Iowa and he was going to see her by bumming rides along the way! Coming from California, the entire mid-west was an eye opener for me. I thought all of America was prosperous and everyone had one or more car at their disposal. And here was me, from a third world country, give a ride to a hitchhiker from the first world!

I moved over to Iowa by crossing a massive river which I later found was the Great Missouri. As a kid it used to hurt me that this river was overshadowed by the Mississippi. I took it personally since, I felt that if the cartographers had been smart and called the whole river, Missouri, then it could have been the longest river in the world with Mississippi being merely a tributary not the other way around! I hated The Nile and The Amazon and would look at the map sadly with thoughts of what might have been! Just check out this link and you will understand. The Missouri is actually longer than the Mississippi!

After dropping, my hitchhiker, I went to a Motel 6 and I found myself at a standstill. They had no rooms. The guy at the reception, another Indian, told me to try my luck at a motel nearby. When the receptionist at the other motel told me that single-room rates were more than $50 I was shocked. Here I was in the $20-$25 range and could not wrap my head around the larger number. I went back to my Indian receptionist as if he could do some magic for me! He took pity on me and told me to tell the other guy, that I was a referral from Motel 6. Well long story short, I got Motel 6 rates and went to sleep.

And so ended my Day 3.

Very few aspects of the Day 4 stand out clearly in my mind. It was mostly about weariness and a desire to see the end of the journey. I guess it is hard to drive a stick shift without cruise control for 12 hours each day for 3 consecutive days and not be tot müde (dead tired). I was so weary that at one point I fell asleep at the wheel for what seemed only a few seconds. I remember the shock I felt when I jolted back awake. I stopped at a rest area and washed my face, rested for a short while and drove on.

I saw a sign welcoming me to Illinois followed by another massive river, The Mississipi. It turns out that Mississippi forms the eastern border of Iowa with Illinois just as Missouri forms the western border of Iowa with Nebraska. I stopped somewhere south of Chicago at a Pizza Hut. Except for a short period when I suffered from Jaundice, I have never been known to say no to food. I used to have an appetite of a rickshaw-wallah. I did not know one could be so pooped out that the sight of food could bring on gag reflex. I did the best I could and drove into Michigan.

At this point I had left behind my friend of nearly four days, I-80 and took I-94. I passed by Kalamazoo and Battle Creek and went North on I-69 towards Lansing. I was nearing the end of my journey. From Lansing, I headed east going towards East Lansing. After getting directions from students, I found out where Spartan Village was. It was late in the evening when I finally landed at PG's place. I had dinner with his friends and went to sleep, a tame ending to four amazing days in my life.

Cross Country Travel 1990 - Part II

In my previous post I had written about my preparation to travel cross country. The total driving distance was approximately 2500 miles, almost all of it on I-80 one of the longest east-west arterial roads in the continental United States. Since I was driving alone, I intended to drive for four days and sleep in motels en route for three of those nights. The actual cities where I intended to sleep were not known to me. My plan was to drive roughly 650 miles each day and before it turned dark, find Motel 6 to crash for the night and start all over again the next day!

Those were definitely simpler times!

My intention here is not bore you with mile by mile details of this expedition. Moreover, after more than 20 years, I barely remember little more than the highlights.

From Bay Area, I took I-680 till it joined I-80. I remember giving a hitchhiker a ride against all advice to the contrary. I picked up a middle aged person outside Sacramento. The drive through the Sierra Nevada was particularly fun especially on the downhill sections when I would put my stick shift in neutral and barrel down. I crossed into Nevada and after dropping of my passenger at Reno, continued ahead into desert country. Long straight roads with scrub like vegetation loomed ahead. Next I drove by a town called Winnemucca, NV. The reason this name stuck in my mind was the self-deprecating humorous sign "6 Billion have never been here". Finally after covering little less than 550 miles, I reached Elko, Nevada at about 6PM and stopped at a Motel 6. Guess whom I saw at the reception? If your answer is anything other than a Gujarati lady with the last name of Patel, you would be wrong!

The following day, after completing my morning ablutions, I headed out east and within an hour or so crossed into Mormon country, Utah. If you look in the interstate map of USA, you will notice that I-80 is quite straight in most sections. This particular section could only have been made with a straight edge. The sign at the outset warns you about the lack of fuel stops, rest areas, and in fact any humanity, for the next nearly 100 miles. Coming from India it is hard for us to understand abject barrenness. I still remember vividly the loneliness I felt at that moment. The highlight of the day was a traipse around the south side of the Great Salt Lake. Till then I had never seen an inland water body that large. Here was a lake whose opposite shore was too far to see! Of course that changed when I saw the Great Lakes in Michigan a few months later.

As I headed east of Salt Lake City, I started to get into mountain country. I wish I had the ability to describe the majesty of the Rocky Mountains. I could use a lot superlatives without describing anything of value. Each turn of the winding road opened spectacular views of the range. I would be in a valley with two mountains looming on each side or on top of a mountain with a view of ever more mountains both behind and ahead of me. After driving nearly 650 miles, I decided to break for the night at a town called Laramie, Wyoming. I again found a Motel 6 just off the freeway and parked my bags.

And then I had an adventure.

After getting directions, I went to eat at a Pizza Hut on the main street. The food was delicious as it usually is after a long and tiring day behind the wheel. It was time to pay and head back to hit the sack.

Things turned bad.

I discovered that I did not have my wallet. With a lot of embarrassment, I explained my predicament and told the cashier that I had left my wallet along with my jacket and that in the motel and pay him with in the hour. I am not sure that the the cashier, a young kid, found my confession plausible. Would you? Nevertheless he let me go.

Things then got worse. I was stopped by a police officer for speeding.

It seems I was doing 35 in a 25 MPH zone. With even more difficulty I explained why I was driving without a valid license and how I was getting back to the motel to pay for my dinner. The cop probably subscribed to the motto trust but verify and tailed me all the way back to the motel and waited for me to get back to from my room.

The outlook then got further worse. I could not find my jacket or my wallet!

Now I was worried about things beyond paying for my dinner or even explaining to the police. How was I going to pay for the motel? How was I going to get to the East Lansing? What the hell was I going to do? In a short span of 2 minutes every possible horrible scenario played itself in my mind. I came out and showed the cop everything except my driver license such as my insurance information! As I was talking; a preposterous idea came into my mind; what if I had had my jacket all along and had really left it in the Pizza Hut. Before I could consider this any further the police office ducked into the car, made a quick call and came out. I waited with bated breath for the axe to fall. The police officer told me to listen quietly. Then he told me to go back to the Pizza Hut and told me to pick up my wallet and jacket. He then told me to drive slowly through town! With relief I thanked the officer, I went back. it turned out that when I took my seat at the booth, I had put my jacket, out of sight, on the other side of the booth. The explanation only made me feel more foolish. With as much dignity as I could muster, I collected my stuff, laughed at my stupidity, paid my bill and drove back.

Then the worst happened, the sky fell.

Or so it seemed to me. I had never seen clouds this dark. I had never seen rain this thick. It felt more like a sheet of water was pouring on my windshield rather than drops. I had never seen so much lightning flashing nor thunder so loud. I have never before driven during a cloudburst. It made me completely aware of my insignificance in the grand scheme of things as never before.

Even though I drove very slowly and the wiper was at maximum speed visibility was literally nil. I somehow managed to get back to the motel without hurting my car, or myself, or more importantly anyone else. Thus ended my second day, both physically and emotionally exhausted.

Cross Country Travel 1990 - Part I

Couple of years ago, I had written about my first year in this country. That was in the left coast, now I am in the right coast. How did I get here?

The stated goal when I first came to the US was; learn automated chip testing and setup a chip testing facility in India to test chips used to support Bubble Memories. Towards this noble goal, I spent several weeks in a training facility at Schlumberger in San Jose, learning to read chip manuals and to write software based on the specifications. With help from my boss Ajay, I also created a novel high-speed technique to measure current; traditional current measurements required milli-seconds whereas we only had a few micro-seconds.

Anyway, within 6 months of my stay here, it was clear that the contract I came for would not be renewed for various reasons. I was dumb. Instead of finding another job in the Bay Area, I decided to look into academics. With my boss's blessing, I picked what I was told was a good school, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and several middle of the pack schools such as Michigan State (MSU) in East Lansing, MI, San Jose State in Bay Area, Oklahoma State in Still Water, OK, and lower ones such as Wayne State (WSU) in Detroit, MI. Do not ask me about my criteria for selecting these schools. I am sure I could not have put more than a limited amount of thought in the process; how else does one explain this rather more than random list of schools!

All except University of Wisconsin gave me admission; UW had good standards and they wanted to keep it that way! No school other than Wayne State gave me a scholarship. Without expending anymore thought than one would in changing clothes, I chose to uproot myself and move across the continent to MSU. You may ask, If WSU gave me scholarship why did I go to East Lansing?

Well my friend, PG who was then at MSU, assured me that if I got good grades during summer term, the chances of getting a Teaching Assistant ship (TA-ship) in fall was a near certainty. For those of you that did not go to graduate school in the USA, getting a TA-ship is akin to a professor getting a tenure, This meant that you were a cool-cat and you now had a little more financial security and consequently you could now afford to eat out once every other week at Pizza Hut!

Back to the answer; my thought process was; Detroit is a bare 100 miles away from East Lansing; if it did not pan out in MSU, I could always transfer to Detroit where I had a scholarship. I had the proverbial bird in hand. Anyway that is another story.

So here I was at the end of May 1990, in San Jose, CA ready to embark on a long journey. I had made my plans; I had PG's phone number in East Lansing, I had gotten my car checked out, I had changed the engine oil, and I had loaded the car with my worldly possessions. It is amusing that there was a time when everything I possessed could fit into the back of my Honda Civic with space to spare! Now my 4 bedroom house is not large enough!

That's it; I was ready. No wait, I also had gone to AAA of California and had gotten maps of the route I was going to follow!

I did not know how many days I was going to travel, I did not know where I was going to sleep each night, I did no know who I could call in case of emergencies! It is not that planning was an anathema to me; I just did not think! I had a map, I had a car, I had a rough idea that I was going to a place called Spartan Village in East Lansing; what more did I have to know!

I expressed my gratitude to the host family with whom I had been a paying guest for the past year and after saying my adieus, I drove away. It is hard to express the feelings that were going through my mind at that time. Many years later I heard these lines spoken by Morgan Freeman in one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption. You may remember that near the end of the movie, Red breaks parole and heads to Zihuatanejo, Mexico to be with his friend Andy. As he is riding the bus, you hear a voice over

... I find I am so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is an excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain ...

Report Card for Raag

As it is well known, I am extremely insecure. I have always suspected that my parents loved my sister more; my teachers liked Pankaj more, and our friends liked my wife more. Devi has always loved her mom more. Let us see what Maa thinks of me.

In January of this year, my parents received a report card from Maalini about Jan's and my performance. While her comments about her mom were good, she told my parents that I interups a lot and watches too much TV! My wife got the ultimate kudo when Maa made a Mother's day card for her even if your just a plane MoM you macke a big difrince. She forgot both Father's day and my birthday - boo hoo.

I couldn't let it go. So I would needle Maa and ask her "Who do you love more amma, akka, or appa". Depending on her mood it would be amma or akka for the first position, but the constant was always, yours truly at the bottom. I expanded the list and added a whole slew of people to the list, grandparents, her aunts and uncles, cousins, and even friends. I found to my chagrin that my position did not improve, they all were inserted into the list somewhere below her mom and her sister but always above me. Wait one person did fare worse than I did, my sister; well she is as strict parent as I am!

I taxed her on her lack of affection for me and her comment was - At least you are above your sister!

I told this to my sister and her reaction was that she was glad that she was at least I am in Maa's list.

I needed perspective. Now I too am glad I am on the list.